Kids in the Salamanca City Central School District were almost a pilot program for a robot tech company.
The fight is not over for the Salamanca, New York, residents though, as the state could push through the robo-teacher program after making a few adjustments.
‘[This] marks the beginning of a new era.’
On Friday, the school district announced that its pilot project with company Realbotix, which operates “AI-powered robots for companionship, entertainment, and customer service,” has been paused.
The pilot is “currently on hold while we work through enhanced student data privacy agreements with [the] New York State Education department,” the school district wrote.
The district planned to use literal fembots; a female robot named Sally with a “lifelike appearance,” New York Focus reported. With silicone skin and long, brown hair, the robot would remain in a seated position and have a wide range of upper-body movements and facial expressions.
Students would then be reduced to numbers — described as identification codes — when interacting with the robot. The codes would allow the robot to pull up data about the child’s learning history, allegedly providing personalizing support based on their past communication.
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The robot, which came with a $57,590 investment, was planned for release this fall and is coupled with an AI teacher’s assistant program that students can interact with on a laptop through an avatar.
Realbotix CEO Andrew Kiguel told the New York outlet that the children will be able to interact with the robot teacher in the following manner:
“They’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, I’m student number 1234,’ and then the robot will be like, ‘Hey, we were talking about this yesterday, do you want to continue that conversation?'”
Kiquel claimed the deployment of the robot would be “a landmark moment for both AI and humanoid robotics.”
The CEO then claimed the use of the robot will be the new normal.
“Salamanca marks the beginning of a new era where humanoid robots and intelligent AI assistants become standard tools in STEM education.”
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State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa reportedly had sent a letter to the district superintendent saying that the state “remains concerned about the effect that a humanoid robot may have within a high school classroom.”
Rosa added, “Many parents, teachers, and stakeholders are understandably concerned about the presence of artificial intelligence technology in classrooms, particularly when it involves robots that resemble humans.”
Kiguel said that while his company respects “any decision the school makes,” they stand “firmly behind [the program] as a supportive tool designed to assist teachers and students, not replace them.”
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